Craig Gordon

I'd do the same with Gordon as well but the list would be as long as a bog roll to be perfectly honest.

I think Tony Pulis' opinion means * all, I'll take Brendan's if it's OK with you.

He wasn't a Brendan signing as much as Chelsea are about to offer £5m for Gordon.

 

it's 3 million quid for a 34 year old, take the * * money and get a young goalie in, like ward

 

He was * last year. Nearly every man and his dug would have been happy to see him move on. He has since stepped it up.

Gordon is far from perfect. He has his reckless moments when charging out, gets beat at his near post far too often for my liking, doesnt come out for crosses, lacks a lot of commanding of his box, distribution (kicking especially) is woeful.
Between Gordon and Ambrose, those two have cost us a lot over the past couple years.

If chelsea have offered 3 million, I'm honestly surprised we didn't accept it.

All I can take from that is that the board actually are backing rodgers and letting him deal with transfers. Otherwise we all know old pete would have cashed in on that offer.

 

wouldn't sell just now but would love an upgrade in the summer...

 

But wouldnt Gordon maybe want to move now if knew he was going to be replaced in the summer?

 

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers reveals Craig Gordon is set for bumper new deal to keep Chelsea at bay
Antonio Conte is keen to bring the Hoops stopper to Stamford Bridge but Rodgers insists Gordon is going nowhere and will be offered a new contract

Celtic are set to hand Craig Gordon a bumper new deal to keep him as No.1 and kill-off advances from Chelsea.

And Parkhead chiefs are also continuing to monitor Nigerian striker Henry Onyekuru as the striker pushes for a move to the Scottish champions.

Manager Brendan Rodgers is adamant Gordon is going nowhere with just four days to go before the close of the transfer window.

Chelsea are prepared to offer in excess of £3 million for the Scotland star, but Rodgers is defiant having held talks with the player.

Instead of sanctioning a sale, Rodgers says he wants a fresh contract offered to the goalkeeper to reward him for the type of performances which have instigated the Stamford Bridge moves.

He said: “Craig is enjoying it here, but as a club, we have to look after him as well. That’s the message.

“I always say: Look after the roof when it’s sunny. Don’t wait to fix it when it’s raining.

“The best clubs do that and Craig is in a brilliant position now. He’s in pole position.

“I made it clear that he is someone we want to keep and that, of course, will be looked at. That’s natural.

“I don’t think there is any doubt it was something that was going to happen.

“Coming to this part of the season, that’s what you do and that’ll be the case.

“The message is simple. There are 18 months left and I have absolutely no interest in selling him, especially with four days left in a window.

“Craig’s a player I have spoken about to the people at the club and said I had wanted to retain long before this interest.

“What we are trying to build here is quite an exciting period and I want him to be a big part of that.

“I’d want Craig to be here for the next three or four years.

“There has been absolutely nowhere near the valuation. It’s difficult. I don’t like to put valuations on because then it’s a stigma.

“But if you look at it, everyone is looking for top goalkeepers and I wouldn’t begin to imagine it.

“There is talk of [Asmir] Begovic being £10 or £12 million, so you are not going to sell one and bring one in to replace him for say £2 or £3 million are you?

“Why would you do it? You wouldn’t.”

Chelsea may not give up and could launch an improved bid, but Rodgers is adamant it’ll be immaterial.

Asked if he was certain Gordon would be at Celtic on February 1, the boss added: “Yeah, absolutely. Because the strength is with the club.

“There are 18 months left here and where do I get another goalkeeper at this stage, when I am looking to build something?

“It’s been a long, hard road for Craig in the opening period here to get to the level where I wanted him to be at, but he took it on board and trained hard and tactically he understood it.

“So I’m not really of the mindset to throw all of that out and be left having to look for another Champions League goalkeeper.

“I don’t know if Chelsea will come back in. It depends on how much they want him.

“I also know the people there. I know the technical director Michael Emenalo well and they will respect our position.

“It’s football business. It’s what happens and there is no problem with that.

“We stay calm. The strength is with us and there is no wavering from us.”

 

Feel the same about a potential upgrade in summer. But the problem is that Gordon is then unlikely to be happy to be no 2, so we then risk taking up the contract extension and having an unhappy player for a year, or otherwise not taking up the extension and letting him leave for free.

And with Rodgers not entirely convinced by Gordon's all round ability, and likely looking for that upgrade, it makes sense just to take the money now.

And yeah De Vries has looked poor in his early games, but you'd think with Rodgers specifically targeting him, plus winning Forrest's player of the year last season that there has to be some ability there we've not seen yet.

 

Late reply, but to answer the Q's on Ryan. Valencia was rumoured to have paid £5m and wages of £30k a week for a 6 year contract. 18 months gone and 3 managers later he's on the outer with Valencia facing relegation. I would think that he would take a wage reduction to get game time and CL exposure. If Celtic get 3-5m for Gordon then it would be close to a simple flip of the cash to get Ryan if you could come to mutual terms. He has refused to go back to the Belgium league as it is a step back to where he was.

For the question on whether he is good with his feet, that's his style, sweeper keeper and is really good with fast throwing distribution looking to counter. I think he would be awesome in combination with the Celtic left of Tierney and Sinclair. Has age on his side and would be a great fit and addition into the BR style. I think he's a real upgrade on Gordon, but that's just another opinion, if Gordon leaves.

 

For 3 million quid, not worth the hassle for me.

Especially when Chelsea are just coming up here looking for a bargain - Get *, *!

 

Mind 34 isn't really that old for a keeper. I wouldn't mind him going but not for as little as that. There's principal coming into it too, Chelsea are being cheeky with the bid.

 

The thing we all need to understand is this ,Chelsea are not going to come after a bad keeper are they ,and there is no perfect keeper ,they are more in the spotlight for mistakes as mostly it causes a goal ,so why sell our number 1 who is at his peak in goalie years ,only to try to replace him with maybe 4 million ,it can't be done no matter how you look at it. Br knows it would cause massive disturbance to our back line and could cost us cl qualification to do This as one mistake at that level could be a possible 30million loss.

 

Great interview with Brendan there.

 

A recon Lawell hasn't slept since that deal was knocked back

 

Sell him and bring Siedlice's finest home.

 

* down there don't think anything of paying £10m for 34+ year olds, there is talk of Defoe (35) going for £12m, Gordon has at least 3 good years ahead of him, tell them £10m or get to *.

 

Regarding the weak link, I actually agree with da Doc.

Lustig struggles big time against anyone with any kind of pace - See Barry McKay, Sane etc.

This will be compounded next season in the CL for me.

 

I said it before about Lustig as well, he's not been that great this season and got caught out a lot in CL and well anyone with good pace. Still think he offers a lot and has been improving but he always needs help to cover. Gamboa played well in December and last few games but we really need another option for Europe, I'd prefer having Lustig as a centre half.